A lesson in keyword anchored links

It may be a victim of Google’s most recent tweak to its Panda update. The Panda update was first released in February of 2011 to penalise over-optimised sites.

If you are not sure if you have been hit, check your Google Analytics or Google Webmaster Tools to see where the drop of traffic started. Then check if the drop off date matches up to any of Google’s updates.

Algorithm changes are not penalties. While they can appear to look like a penalty, they can usually be fixed without requesting reconsideration from Google or using the new Google Disavow link option.

These two options would ONLY be used if you received an official email from Google in your webmaster tools informing you of an issue.

In the past, if you wanted to rank highly for something, it was simply a matter of getting backlinks to your website. The most effective way were keyword anchored links, such as web solutions Melbourne, which would help my chances of getting ranked for this key phrase.

But with the Panda update, too many similar keyword links can be seen as un-natural and you can receive a soft penalty for it.

The solution: Dilute the links back to your site. If you cant get webmasters to change the links, create more with a fresh outlook to SEO. It may take a little time before your back to your rightful spot.

How would you dilute the links to your site?

I would recommend (in this order):

Branded anchor links (e.g., JNH Solutions)

Naked URLs as links (e.g., www.jnhsolutions.com, jnhsolutions.com,)

Universal anchors (e.g., >> Click Here, Visit this website, etc.)

Hybrid-branded anchors (ie, Web Solutions at JNH Solutions)

Keyword anchored links (Web Solutions Melbourne)

Make sure you have access to a large percent of your external links. e.g. Blog post accounts that you have setup or web 2.0 article sites that you have submitted. By having some control, if you run into a problem with a future update you will have some power over the situation.

SEO’s not dead, it’s evolved!

While links are still important, search engines are trying to focus on sites that engage human visitors, so try to be very active online with social media. If your business is too busy to do this, you are losing out on a massive free and popular way to market your business.

These days the average teenager has the ability to create more links to a website in an hour than a seasoned SEO expert can in a week. These social media options should be leveraged by your business or you could look at getting a company to help you out with your social media strategy to keep your business active online.